If you're in the USA and looking for a similar raised bed check out this one bit.ly/2zhUrHk Lots of people ask me where to buy something similar to the raised beds I often show in my videos, unfortunately, high sided raised garden beds are not as common in the USA as they are here in Oz but hopefully in the future there will be more options. If you know of other retailer/s in the USA who do stock high sided raised beds (about waist high and especially the rounds ones) no matter what they are made of please send me a message and let me know so I can share it with others. Cheers :)
I just sent a note to that same vendor with your video attached. They wanted to know why I wasn't purchasing beds as often as I used to do, and I told them about your metal, Hugelkultur beds. In comparing your height to those of the beds, they look to be about 1 meter high, and length/diameter varies. Will see what happens, and where this goes.
Another video channel (Answer Garden - she focuses more on flowers, landscape, decor..) also shared this link for Gardener's Supply Co and they sell metal raised beds, though they seem much smaller than yours. I know in the USA you can get large galvanized stock tanks for feeding and watering cattle and horses and such. You might need to drill holes or cut out the bottom for drainage, but they come in small to very large sizes and shapes. They are sold at the Tractor Supply Co stores, animal feed stores and I've seen them online at Amazon, search livestock equipment or livestock tanks, galvanized steel (they come in rubber too).
N. Smith. Correct, mine is a watering tank. I've sent notes to Gardeners Supply, as they asked why I wasn't buying their raised beds as often. I explained $500 for one of their beds is too expensive, and the need for deeper beds, and sent them one of Marks video. Let's see what happens.
I've been doing this for over 35 years with kitchen waste, fish carcasses, garden waste, leaves, twigs and small logs without even knowing it had a name. I just knew when I was a young boy how I would hunt for earthworms to fish with and I as I turned over logs that would lay on the ground for years in the swamps and forests that they break down and attract all kinds of beneficial worms, beetles, and larvae that feed the soil and in turn create its own composted soil. I love your videos Mark and learn many things from you. Thank you for that.
Man this is amazing news. We cut down several trees in our back yard recently and they’re all just stacked up in the back. I have more garden bed filler than I’ll ever know what to do with. So now I can build some more beds without having to spend hundreds of dollars on bagged soil since I don’t have a truck to buy in bulk.
Hugelkulrtur has been a complete liberation for me. It stops me feeling guilty for being lazy; I can just chuck everything on a heap - cardboard, prunings, weeds, manure - whatever. No more dragging huge loads of grape prunings out to the bin, or having to go to the tip with tree prunings. Its the best concept ever for lazy gardeners. I feel respectable being able to give my rubbish heap a flash German name. By the way, I don't use a frame - I just build a mound.
My first hugel was accidental: a large old tree was cut down, but kept growing back from the stump, so I covered it in a mound of soil to prevent it growing back again. As the stump rotted under the soil, the hill became extremely fertile, with grass growing fast and green on it, much more so than the surrounding areas. I since learned about hugels, and made many hugel mounds on my property, which are long oval hills, not surrounded by metal or wood. I made them the proper way, as done in this video: large logs ends up to absorb water on the bottom, then branches, then sticks and leaves. Each year the hugels become more fertile, and hold more water - I see them as living entities full of life. There are many other permaculture techniques, but hugels are one of the best. Thank you for explaining it properly!
I'm an addict. Three seconds in and Mark not only calms all anxiety but puts a smile on your face and positive anticipation of what he's up to in the video. I'm trying to find a therapist; they recommended Mark. :)
When I see your videos, I LIKE first then watch. I'm a newbie and you are a great teacher. Many thanks, Mark. Oh, that smile is an instant mood lifter!
I am actually from Germany and had to google "Hügelkultur". Yes it is a German word, but I found the term just on English websites. In Germany they say "Hügelbeet" (hill bed) to an unframed one and "Hochbeet" (high bed" to an framed one. I also saw a guy from Germany who build this with a frame made frome turf divot. :)
I was wondering about that. I speak good High German and some Bavarian German (Opa is from Kulmbach) and I half thought this word was swedish or something.
Like you I made a Hugelkultur bed without realizing it. My husband works for a factory that has the machine parts shipped in huge crates. He brought home a couple and they are about 2' wide by 15' long and knee height. I knew filling them to the top with the compost mix I ordered would be expensive so I used the small branches and leaves that fell under a tree nearby to fill it halfway. I figured they would break down and contribute to the soil over time and saved me lots of money. So far my plants are doing well in those boxes. A good way to save money and help the environment is to ask your employer or local factories for things they would normally trash such as these crates. I also get landscape fabrics for free because of small imperfections in the product. I am lucky to live in an area known for furniture and fabric so I dumpster dive for stuff all the time and score big. Just a couple days ago I got a brand new box of fabrics from a local factory. Each piece was 3 yards and perfect but they no longer carried that line. One of my favorite finds was a petrified log in a showroom dumpster that has a new home in my flower garden. When I worked retail resetting I would ask for the displays. My mother-in-law made two amazing quilts for me out of curtain panel displays. You can find free stuff nearly anywhere, you just have to have the guts to ask.
My partner brough me a few of these big crates and I did the same thing...lol. I grew carrots, kale, ginger, turmeric, peppers, tomatoes, and other random things.
Some people don't like the idea of dumpster diving and what it could imply, but for sure, we can find lots of good things in / around / within arm's reach without actually going into a dumpster. It's just a term that may include going in, but it doesn't have to. Ultimately, though, it's a good way to find and get items that are still usable but someone else just didn't want it anymore. One of my recent finds was that my friend and I found intact one of those kiddie basketball hoops that you fill with sand or water to keep it from tipping over, and now his brother and nephew are enjoying it at their home.
Just be careful about using wood. Use large pieces and avoid using small/chipped wood too much. It will decompose faster and could lead to overfertilization of the soil, which is not good for crops or you. Larger pieces rot slower and release nutrients at a better rate.
Hey Mark, your channel is pure gold. I'll be modeling my garden after a mixture of yours and "Epic Gardening." May even make a channel to showcase how it goes. You're definitely an inspiring beacon of light during these darker times. Thank you for existing.
I bought a couple Birdie's raised garden beds and after being subbed for a while, I thought of this vid to fill them. Did the Black Friday sale which I only knew about from your channel. I have a fallen tree to use as a base. Thanks man!
Great presentation. I think the main difference between your raised beds (hochbeet) and hugelkultur is that hugelkulur provides you with twice the amount of growing space and different microclimates for different plants, which is great for polyculture gardening. It's a very intelligent design and if you are using differnet types of hardwood, it can increase your yields for many years and even decades. Keep up the great work.
Hi Mark! I hit the jackpot when I found this video. My son has literally just assembled one of the two 1 metre square raised beds which are a surprise birthday present for my 79th birthday. He appreciates my difficulty bending. I searched for advise on how to fill it up frugally without buying lots of soil/compost. Your way is the absolutely perfect solution. I can easily get the logs, wood chips, twigs, straw, homemade compost etc., before adding the soil or compost. Thank you so much for the great tutorial on filling raised beds.
The soil here in Colorado is notoriously clay and really stubborn to grow in. We finally got my beds built at the house and this is what I did! So far I've noticed that the soil is staying wet longer and that the plants I have in there have been much more tolerable of the cold. It's the first year of trying with it and I'm already sold. My parents just built several of these beds in Texas and they are also shocked with the results. My brother in Arizona is starting to build these there too, so will report back with how those go!
It's okay Mark, I don't use terms that many uses in the gardening world such as hugelkultur, back to eden, permaculture, and blah. I do what works whether I learned from somewhere or from my folks or mix ideas to achieve an outcome that works. I have done them all and not knowing it is the same method that people are going crazy about. My style of madness is what you mentioned using what materials you have around you. I could never afford a lot of compost to fill huge beds. I have always filled it with sticks and branches, leaves and garden waste. Then, I top it with what soil or compost I can afford. it works.
Ok, so I saw this video last year a couple of weeks into quarantine and I said, I am going to do that. Today I built two raised beds and loaded them with logs. Tomorrow is leaves, grass and other yard waste. Then the soil. Thanks for educating me.
Pleased to hear you talking about hugelkulture! Lots of happy helpful wee beasties munching on those old logs and sticks. And you can be proud for being twice as smart as you thought you were. 😎
Ha ha I have been doing that for years also. I hate paying for dirt so I toss in all my (small) sticks/branches and with dirt leaves and grass clippings I scrape off the woods floor. I never thought to fill with large logs etc, But since we had a bad storm and many trees were knocked down I have more fill. I never knew it had a name either. I just called it cheap... Thanks for another terrific video...
Thanks for showing us what you put in your raised bed as I hadn't thought of using such big chunks of wood. I tried Hugelkultur for the first time this year and had phenomenal results in a new raised bed we built this spring (eastern WA USA). I had raspberry prunings, sticks and leaves from a tulip tree, spruce tree cones, arbovitae prunings, and whatever didn't compost in the compost pile over the winter like pea and squash vines, iris stems, etc., and these took up about 1/3 the space. I then put compost and dirt on top of that. I planted corn and sunflowers on one side, cukes in the middle and carrots on the other side. The first 3 have taken off and are over twice as tall as the same plants planted elsewhere in the garden in the same kind of dirt mix. They also look healthier, with bigger darker green leaves, and have thicker stems. I have to keep staking up the cukes and they are keeping me in pickles. Carrots are too immature yet to see much progress. I'm going to change all my raised beds over to this method next year.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your experience in Hugelkultur and the success you have had with this method! Like I said in the video I never knew there was an actual specific name for this method of gardening but I guess it deserves a special tag. All the best. :)
Another method is how the Aztecs used bodies of water and had lush gardens. You tube I think has a few videos on this. Try growing Tayberries they are a cross from black berries/raspberries. My marionberries are over taking my garden.
Self Sufficient Me have you ever just planted vegs in the wild or woods around your house or on the wooded property? you get volunteers in your garden all the time, so planting a few different plants out back hahah no pun intended and see if they will volunteers to send up babies next year or if they don't. lets say like sweet potatoes! do you think animals around your place would like the greens as well as roots of that plant?
Does it matter what kind of wood you put in? Looking at free wood on market place and not sure if it makes a difference if it's pine,gum or anything else
We did this as well, my husband works at a wood mill, and he filled the truck bed up with wood chips from the “chipper” we filled the garden bed up about 2/3 the way full added top soil and topped that ....I’m on my second year, and the tomato’s that were left in the bed from last year sprouted, i now have some 400 little tomato plants! But I thinned them out, anyway we did to this ....
I've been gardening pretty much my whole life, beginning when my parents had me working in their veg patch when I was young. I'm still learning and your channel is fantastic! Even though I live in a completely different climate, your principles still apply. Thanks for all the valuable info you put out for the world! Can't wait to put this knowledge to work.
This video has really made my day. I work in disability sector, and we go to a 'farm' on mondays and its a pesticide free, clean, reuse type of farm, No animals, but we have build 4 raised beds which are up to our chests/abdomins and we have feel slowly trying to build them up with compost, mulch and dirt. But it is taking a long time. This will help us out so much and I can claim the browny points also haha. Great vid. Keep it up.
I live in Washington, DC and just love his videos. I'm familiar with most of his approaches, but he brings the ideas to life with clear videos and a good sense of humor.
Excellent video….just yesterday I was thinking about how much soil it was going to take to fill my 4’x8’ raised garden bed…now I know what to do with all the branches and leaves I have in my yard…thanks Marc
We just did the same thing with our new raised bed, for the same reason you did, I didn’t want to waste soil! I thought at the time that the breaking down of the branches wouldn’t hurt & might help. Great to know it is a known & beneficial practice. Thanks for the info 😊👍
Started doing hugelkultur without knowing it was a technique. I simply observed the amazing soil created by rotting trees and figured I could make my own. It wasn't till studying a bit that I saw my idea was not, in fact, original. I also have a large pile of logs and dirt and organic material for long term compost I can use down the road. Had to do something with all the brush and rotten logs from the 60-70 trees I cleared for a orchard and more garden space, aside from useable firewood that is. It has been very dry this year with burn restrictions, so it turned out to be a good choice that way too.
I've had these in my polytunnel for a while. Wood and any fresh manure in the bottom then a good layer of old hay followed by a couple of inches of compost. The wood works really well as a reservoir and slow release nutrients. Fantastic crops. Can wholeheartedly recommend it.
I just took it for granted that you knew...that you were demonstrating huegelkutur. Well , you're channeling old German gardeners, ehh? Much joy, my friend. Julia
Got my birdies raised bed yesterday. Today I assemble! Over the past year, I have been scavenging my 2.68 acres to save up items you've been teaching us about to use Hügelkultur in my raised bed. Love your channel! Best wishes from North Florida. Namaste. 🙏🦋🌿
We filled 4 huge raised garden beds using the layer method (hugekulture) after watching your videos, but that the worst garden mistake we’d ever done. We have huge problem with rodents using the lower part of the bed (the broken logs, sticks layer) as rat motels, they dig under the bed to access that area and dig up to the top of the bed to have some sky view while eating their dinner. So warning to all beginner gardeners, research this method widely and use extra precautions to avoid building rat motels.
I am off grid and not rich to buy an insane amount of soil. I am on a mountain and it's very rocky with much clay. I built raised beds in a green house and started using the old fall leaves as my base for a slow release of nutrients for my plants, with a layer of soil. The logs are a great idea. My land is extremely raw and plentiful of downed old trees. Pulling up leaves today to add logs before my first crop this year. Thank you for the extra ideas! God Bless you Sir.
Best thing I have learned so far Mark. I have all the branch cuttings from fruit tree pruning just sitting in one big pile on my land. Had no idea what to do with it and now I do. I have tons of leaf mulch and other debris I can now utilise. I'm excited! Thanks so very much for sharing this. Look out Tasmanian gardening here I come!
Hi Lynn, I'm in Melbourne and recently pruned our orange trees. I've been wondering what to do with the branches too, and will give this a try in a small raised bed that I am planning. I also have a lot of leaf mulch from a large Chinese elm tree that drops leaves in winter. The neighbours cut off some overhanging branches and threw them in our front yard (lol) so I have those piled up as well.Good luck with your garden!
Awww I wish I had watched this video before I filled my amazing raised garden beds my husband just made me - I did full the bottoms with leaves and sticks but the logs would have saved me some money in soil - however I am having a couple more made so logs and sticks it is - thanks Mark enjoy your videos
Huhu! German person here. I've researched Hügelkultur and as you said, "filling" it with organic matter is really just a small portion of it. The essence of Hügelkultur is "a raised bed without a border". So it's just organic matter layered in a way that it doesn't collapse on its own + all the nice benefits. As your beds do have metal sheets on the sides, they are not Hügelkultur-beds, just raised beds that benefit from organic material filling. Big logs should keep your beds warm for roughly 3 years tho :)
I did this with a tote box (intentionally; I had heard to hugelkulture before. :-) ). I took an old plastic tote box and filled it up halfway with sticks from my yard. Then I covered the sticks with a thick layer of leaves to keep the dirt from falling to the bottom--and to make sure I introduced some fungus. Then I took a bit of leaf and rotten food material out of my worm compost box--along with some worms, and added that as a thin layer. Then I topped it with a layer of bagged garden soil deep enough to accommodate an onion bulb. I planted some onions, wet it, then covered it with cling film to keep the moisture in (so I don't have to water it daily). I checked last night and I saw a few tiny sprouts! Once the tops are really up, I'll give it a top dressing of leaves (or woodchips if I have a load in by then) to keep the soil from drying out and when it's warm enough, the tote will go outside. The benefits for me with using this method (besides all the ones you mentioned) is that I didn't have to put holes in the bottom of my box, so I don't have to try to put a drip pan under it while it's in the house; the bottom section has a lot of water holding capacity, which my onions can eventually take advantage of, like plants grown hydroponically. (One of the drawbacks to container gardening is that the soil dries out much faster than it does in a regular garden). Secondly, this made the box light enough I could still pick it up to move it! I don't think I could have done that if it had been full of dirt (or had gravel drainage). And lastly, I have come to find that I hate using gravel as pot drainage because when it comes time to get the dirt out of the pot to refresh it, gravel inevitably gets mixed in. And I don't want dirt with gravel in it. But when it comes time to remake my onion box, if some sticks get mixed into the dirt, that's okay; they'll break down eventually and only contribute to the soil.
Without knowing about this I've been doing the same! Only in a smaller scale. To me it works perfectly! I never knew about this but it even works on a balkony with small pots.
I just started watching your videos within the last month more or less and I've learned so much about not just growing fruits and vegetables but more importantly ecosystems and maintaining them in your own right you are like a botanist and you explain everything so that the average person can understand it . Thanks .
Ancient Wisdom = Common Sense Just an example that wisdom can be identified through logic, not just handing down via tradition. But that unfortunately we don’t hand down this knowledge as a matter of practice as much anymore. It’s easier when it’s handed down and hoping a renaissance is springing right now to get back to our roots so to speak with nature.
Love your work. As a gardener in a botanic gardens and digger of holes in the ground I think this is absolutely wonderful. I am setting up garden beds at home and will definitely be doing it this way. Hopefully at some point I will be able to pass this info on to the general public at our Eco Fiesta.
Thanks for the idea. Did a raised flower bed about a month ago and tried your idea. My green bin was practically empty by the time i was done. Used neighbours green bin for cut grass and dead plants. Got a full garden of healthy plants. Thanks again
Ty for showing me how to make the most of my raised beds I am installing in my new courtyard. I love growing vege and raised beds are great for someone like me who can't stand to garden. Many thanks for your wonderful channel for blooming beginners.
Nice video Mark....great to listen to someone without an ego. One could probably use the weekly waste; egg shells, green leftovers and such to add to the H.Kultur too over time....keeping a good balance between Nitrogen and Carbon.
I add all that too instead of flushing it down the garbage disposal. I think I am improving my soil. Thank you so much for this video. I am trying it for the first time today and I am so excited. I took all the soil out of my galvanized stock tanks and will start over with adding tree stumps , branches, twigs and leaves and then the fertilizer and soil. Looking forward to an awesome garden this time. :)
thank you for the video i learn a lot using stuff around the farm for gardening. i also do organic gardening in santa barbara, california for 32 years and i look forward using all the techniques and ideas i learned from your gardening video when i start my organic farm in the Philippines.
I’ve been working like a dog clearing debris from my plot. Branches, weeds, pine droppings...... now I discover this and feel remarkably stupid. Why didn’t I think of that!? Oh well, every day is a learning day. Thanks for the inspiring videos and information.
I buried lots of firewood much to my husbands dismay! Ha ha ha. Loved it. Always adding leaves manure mowed lawn and even compost material from the kitchen. We have moved into a new home now and will hope to implement your great idea for the raised bed with the metal! Will be heading to the mountains for bigger broken down branches twigs and leaves and will use the neighbors mowed grass and leaves and yard debris to add to the full finally topping of with soil peat and compost as I can. Loved your video! Thanks for sharing your great ideas! Wish you were my neighbor!
yeah, I imagine a lot of people do this by accident. The bottoms of raised beds are just a great place to get rid of big stuff that is too big for the compost heap.
This is great. We recently had a bad hurricane pass through our area with great loss of trees and great damage to buildings. My daughter and I have found ways to salvage the loss of trees by way of a portable saw mill. We have saved the wood from our old Cedar Trees, Black Walnut, Oak, HUGE Mexican Pecan Tree, and Pine. BUT .. we still have the limbs to deal with and do not want to burn them. I have been wanting to find the raised beds like those you use. (Bad knees and back) Now, after watching this video I realize that we can break these limbs down smaller, add compost, then add topsoil and have our raised beds. We will have the lumber from selected of our trees, and we also have a supply of damaged roofing 'tin'. 'We' call it tin, but I believe it is mostly glavalune (a type of aluminum?), or maybe steel. I thought we could use some of the tin to make the walls, too. I am not aware of any possible toxic chemical residue that might leech from the tin. Need research there which is just a phone call. But if you have any ideas, please share. Love your videos. Thanks.
I've done a similar thing. Several years ago I got some large rubber (similar to tire material) horse troughs cheap on sale. I checked out to make sure they were safe for gardening in first. Although I don't have access to the large pieces of wood, I can get wood chips for free. I place aged wood chips in the bottom then add chop and drop and kitchen scraps, whats left after filleting fish, etc., then a quality potting mixture. This has worked great. The wood chips help hold moisture at the bottom and slowly break down adding nutrients, along with the compost ingredients. My garden is thriving without any additional fertilizer except worm tea. I mulch with leaves and aged wood chips, whatever I have on hand. Too many people get caught up in rules, but if it works and is cheap and not polluting, and makes my gardening easier or more productive, I use it. Love your videos.
I have to admit, I had a dream recently that he came to my ranch and taught me what and where to plant my gahden, I mean garden. I woke up, went in the kitchen and said "g'day" to my son. I was sad when I realized Mahrk, um, I mean Mark is never coming here to help me figure this stuff out. Sigh. I am grateful that he's given us hours of quality advice though, and he's awfully cute! His wife is a lucky woman!
What a great idea! I have heaps of prunings and junk in a pile to burn. Not only is this a good base for a garden bin, but I'm not putting pollution into the air😀
I love your manner of presenting information...slow enough for the brain to take it in, plenty of visuals to show what you are describing, using what's on hand rather than expensive garden supplements, etc. and pragmatic choices of subjects anyone could utilize. Love your accent as well! Just an added bonus!
Same here. Long before I had heard of the trendy gardening method I was putting filler material at the bottom of raised beds to save money. I'm now trying to decide for next year if I will build solid sided raised beds or save more money on materials and just build hugel mounds.
If you go without solid-sided beds then it might mean you have to reach further to get to the middle of the bed, which in turn may mean you can't raise the beds as high (because the higher they are, the deeper they'll end up at the base so the further back you will have to stand.) But if you think you can still reach the middle of the bed with ease then it certainly sounds more productive not to bother with making the sides solid.
+Bradd Petersen I live in the Northeastern U.S.A. And we have been getting near constant rain all season. We had an extremely wet Spring, and now that we are into Summer, we've had some hot, drier days, but still, overall I live in quite a wet, cold climate. So it sounds like I have the opposite problem. :)
+Punky Rooster I live in NE Pa and as you say we have had a wet spring and summer. I have only had to water my plants 2X this summer and was actually concerned that the potted plants were getting too much water. Now today at the local store I heard 2 people talking and one said something about the "drought". After they had left I asked the cashier if I had heard correctly and they said yes, we have been in a drought all summer! I expressed my shock and remarked about all the rain all season long. They wanted to know if I lived near a lake or pond because "the pond had no water in it." I live only about half a mile away and get eaten alive by all the mosquitoes because of the wet atmosphere, so I say "maybe the pond has a leak, 'cause we have had more rain this year than my landscape knows what to do with. My shrubs are growing like weeds and I haven't had to water my garden but 2X all year". No reply from her. Hmmm..... maybe I'm in a tiny little sub-atmosphere and don't even know it. LOL Now it's getting cold fast. I'm trying to think of ways to enclose my little trial garden so as to extend the growing season before all my gorgeous robust tomato vines give up the ghost and my tomatoes haven't had time to grow enough since I got such a late start. Have a great day.
My 8 year old daughter and I are just getting into gardening and she also loves woodworking so we’ve made a raised bed out of some old wardrobe doors 😁. We will be going to the woods for some logs because it will save me a fortune 😂
Oh my goodness... I had a little round tank by a novelty 8 foot windmill, and I was too lazy to fill with all soil, so I filled it with a bunch of wood from our woodpile, then put dirt on top and planted flowers.... I did Hugelkultur myself, without even knowing it!! LOL Great video!
i find that worms love nesting around rotting wood and other similar organic matter. the resulting worms and their waste is great for plants and soil health
I first learned of hugelkultur because I was looking at investing in desert property and in order to have my garden or perhaps a yard at least I wanted to plow the land put logs mulch and twigs in it and then layer over with soil and regrow the land I thought it would be cool.
If you're in the USA and looking for a similar raised bed check out this one bit.ly/2zhUrHk Lots of people ask me where to buy something similar to the raised beds I often show in my videos, unfortunately, high sided raised garden beds are not as common in the USA as they are here in Oz but hopefully in the future there will be more options. If you know of other retailer/s in the USA who do stock high sided raised beds (about waist high and especially the rounds ones) no matter what they are made of please send me a message and let me know so I can share it with others. Cheers :)
I just sent a note to that same vendor with your video attached. They wanted to know why I wasn't purchasing beds as often as I used to do, and I told them about your metal, Hugelkultur beds. In comparing your height to those of the beds, they look to be about 1 meter high, and length/diameter varies. Will see what happens, and where this goes.
Another video channel (Answer Garden - she focuses more on flowers, landscape, decor..) also shared this link for Gardener's Supply Co and they sell metal raised beds, though they seem much smaller than yours. I know in the USA you can get large galvanized stock tanks for feeding and watering cattle and horses and such. You might need to drill holes or cut out the bottom for drainage, but they come in small to very large sizes and shapes. They are sold at the Tractor Supply Co stores, animal feed stores and I've seen them online at Amazon, search livestock equipment or livestock tanks, galvanized steel (they come in rubber too).
N. Smith. Correct, mine is a watering tank. I've sent notes to Gardeners Supply, as they asked why I wasn't buying their raised beds as often. I explained $500 for one of their beds is too expensive, and the need for deeper beds, and sent them one of Marks video. Let's see what happens.
Corrugated galvanized is easy to find here in the USA. But what about the corner pieces? What is that called?
i just built mine from scratch. I'm not about to pay someone 500 for 30.00 in materials
You could explain anything, and I would enjoy listening to it. 😂😘
He's like the Bob Ross of gardening.
Check out Charles Dowding. Def the Bob Ross of UA-cam gardening
Yes. This.
That is exactly how I explained it to my wife💜
i like this guy's videos but you compare him to someone like Bob Ross is a bold claim there Bob Ross was on a whole nother level
Today we are going to plant some vegetables? Why? Little vegetables need friends too. XD
I've been doing this for over 35 years with kitchen waste, fish carcasses, garden waste, leaves, twigs and small logs without even knowing it had a name. I just knew when I was a young boy how I would hunt for earthworms to fish with and I as I turned over logs that would lay on the ground for years in the swamps and forests that they break down and attract all kinds of beneficial worms, beetles, and larvae that feed the soil and in turn create its own composted soil. I love your videos Mark and learn many things from you. Thank you for that.
I appreciate the long distance shots while wearing a mic. It gives us perspective. Thank you!
James Kopecky totally agree super awesome.
Yeah those were really well made.
it was well done like it myself
A great video! Can you use freshly cut branches and logs? Thanks
Great comment
My favorite UA-cam gardener
Man this is amazing news. We cut down several trees in our back yard recently and they’re all just stacked up in the back. I have more garden bed filler than I’ll ever know what to do with. So now I can build some more beds without having to spend hundreds of dollars on bagged soil since I don’t have a truck to buy in bulk.
Hugelkulrtur has been a complete liberation for me. It stops me feeling guilty for being lazy; I can just chuck everything on a heap - cardboard, prunings, weeds, manure - whatever. No more dragging huge loads of grape prunings out to the bin, or having to go to the tip with tree prunings. Its the best concept ever for lazy gardeners. I feel respectable being able to give my rubbish heap a flash German name. By the way, I don't use a frame - I just build a mound.
credenza1 at that point you may aswell get a compost bin
Dylan Zrim nothing wrong with a compost mound/heap. Bins are fancy but heaps work just as well
GeminiStargazer They are heaps good 😃
@@MrJFoster1984 ta boom chshshhhhhh!
giggety goo Some one got it
My first hugel was accidental: a large old tree was cut down, but kept growing back from the stump, so I covered it in a mound of soil to prevent it growing back again. As the stump rotted under the soil, the hill became extremely fertile, with grass growing fast and green on it, much more so than the surrounding areas. I since learned about hugels, and made many hugel mounds on my property, which are long oval hills, not surrounded by metal or wood. I made them the proper way, as done in this video: large logs ends up to absorb water on the bottom, then branches, then sticks and leaves. Each year the hugels become more fertile, and hold more water - I see them as living entities full of life. There are many other permaculture techniques, but hugels are one of the best. Thank you for explaining it properly!
Grass grows fast and green on literally everything.
Basically preparing a forrest floor.
RIP great tree, you'll be missed
I'm an addict. Three seconds in and Mark not only calms all anxiety but puts a smile on your face and positive anticipation of what he's up to in the video. I'm trying to find a therapist; they recommended Mark. :)
One thing I love about gardening is there’s always something new to learn
When I see your videos, I LIKE first then watch. I'm a newbie and you are a great teacher. Many thanks, Mark. Oh, that smile is an instant mood lifter!
Thank you for this. We are using this method in our first raised garden beds now.
I am actually from Germany and had to google "Hügelkultur". Yes it is a German word, but I found the term just on English websites. In Germany they say "Hügelbeet" (hill bed) to an unframed one and "Hochbeet" (high bed" to an framed one. I also saw a guy from Germany who build this with a frame made frome turf divot. :)
I was wondering about that. I speak good High German and some Bavarian German (Opa is from Kulmbach) and I half thought this word was swedish or something.
Maybe is just an older word if its an old practice words change by time.
Thank you for your videos. It has been a big help if our garden growing
Like you I made a Hugelkultur bed without realizing it. My husband works for a factory that has the machine parts shipped in huge crates. He brought home a couple and they are about 2' wide by 15' long and knee height. I knew filling them to the top with the compost mix I ordered would be expensive so I used the small branches and leaves that fell under a tree nearby to fill it halfway. I figured they would break down and contribute to the soil over time and saved me lots of money. So far my plants are doing well in those boxes.
A good way to save money and help the environment is to ask your employer or local factories for things they would normally trash such as these crates. I also get landscape fabrics for free because of small imperfections in the product. I am lucky to live in an area known for furniture and fabric so I dumpster dive for stuff all the time and score big. Just a couple days ago I got a brand new box of fabrics from a local factory. Each piece was 3 yards and perfect but they no longer carried that line. One of my favorite finds was a petrified log in a showroom dumpster that has a new home in my flower garden. When I worked retail resetting I would ask for the displays. My mother-in-law made two amazing quilts for me out of curtain panel displays. You can find free stuff nearly anywhere, you just have to have the guts to ask.
My partner brough me a few of these big crates and I did the same thing...lol.
I grew carrots, kale, ginger, turmeric, peppers, tomatoes, and other random things.
Some people don't like the idea of dumpster diving and what it could imply, but for sure, we can find lots of good things in / around / within arm's reach without actually going into a dumpster. It's just a term that may include going in, but it doesn't have to. Ultimately, though, it's a good way to find and get items that are still usable but someone else just didn't want it anymore.
One of my recent finds was that my friend and I found intact one of those kiddie basketball hoops that you fill with sand or water to keep it from tipping over, and now his brother and nephew are enjoying it at their home.
Just be careful about using wood. Use large pieces and avoid using small/chipped wood too much. It will decompose faster and could lead to overfertilization of the soil, which is not good for crops or you. Larger pieces rot slower and release nutrients at a better rate.
Thats the way it should be done
Victoria! 👍 I call it recombobulating! i’ve done alot of the same things. Free resources!
Thanks for expanding my garden vocabulary!
Hey Mark, your channel is pure gold. I'll be modeling my garden after a mixture of yours and "Epic Gardening." May even make a channel to showcase how it goes. You're definitely an inspiring beacon of light during these darker times. Thank you for existing.
I bought a couple Birdie's raised garden beds and after being subbed for a while, I thought of this vid to fill them. Did the Black Friday sale which I only knew about from your channel. I have a fallen tree to use as a base.
Thanks man!
Great presentation. I think the main difference between your raised beds (hochbeet) and hugelkultur is that hugelkulur provides you with twice the amount of growing space and different microclimates for different plants, which is great for polyculture gardening. It's a very intelligent design and if you are using differnet types of hardwood, it can increase your yields for many years and even decades. Keep up the great work.
Wow, thanks Mark! Will definitely give it a go!
Hi Mark! I hit the jackpot when I found this video. My son has literally just assembled one of the two 1 metre square raised beds which are a surprise birthday present for my 79th birthday. He appreciates my difficulty bending.
I searched for advise on how to fill it up frugally without buying lots of soil/compost.
Your way is the absolutely perfect solution. I can easily get the logs, wood chips, twigs, straw, homemade compost etc., before adding the soil or compost.
Thank you so much for the great tutorial on filling raised beds.
Nice to read your message. It is great that you love to garden. Hope you are fine. Thank you.
Some people add newspaper and cardboard as fillers
Love you Mark..I'm eating much better these days because of your good advice..
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re clear, precise, to the point without a lot of extra mumbo jumbo. 154 dislikes?! What’s wrong with people?
I wont go as far as disliking this video, but he does not have hill gardens here. He has flat, organic beds.
Awesome just getting started with this on our raised vegi beds
The soil here in Colorado is notoriously clay and really stubborn to grow in. We finally got my beds built at the house and this is what I did! So far I've noticed that the soil is staying wet longer and that the plants I have in there have been much more tolerable of the cold. It's the first year of trying with it and I'm already sold. My parents just built several of these beds in Texas and they are also shocked with the results. My brother in Arizona is starting to build these there too, so will report back with how those go!
First time I hear about Hugelkultur - will read up on it further. Liked the video. Thanks.
It's okay Mark, I don't use terms that many uses in the gardening world such as hugelkultur, back to eden, permaculture, and blah. I do what works whether I learned from somewhere or from my folks or mix ideas to achieve an outcome that works. I have done them all and not knowing it is the same method that people are going crazy about. My style of madness is what you mentioned using what materials you have around you. I could never afford a lot of compost to fill huge beds. I have always filled it with sticks and branches, leaves and garden waste. Then, I top it with what soil or compost I can afford. it works.
Same
totally my way of doing things. use what you have and what works
Ok, so I saw this video last year a couple of weeks into quarantine and I said, I am going to do that. Today I built two raised beds and loaded them with logs. Tomorrow is leaves, grass and other yard waste. Then the soil. Thanks for educating me.
Pleased to hear you talking about hugelkulture!
Lots of happy helpful wee beasties munching on those old logs and sticks.
And you can be proud for being twice as smart as you thought you were. 😎
Ha ha I have been doing that for years also. I hate paying for dirt so I toss in all my (small) sticks/branches and with dirt leaves and grass clippings I scrape off the woods floor. I never thought to fill with large logs etc, But since we had a bad storm and many trees were knocked down I have more fill. I never knew it had a name either. I just called it cheap... Thanks for another terrific video...
Thanks for showing us what you put in your raised bed as I hadn't thought of using such big chunks of wood. I tried Hugelkultur for the first time this year and had phenomenal results in a new raised bed we built this spring (eastern WA USA). I had raspberry prunings, sticks and leaves from a tulip tree, spruce tree cones, arbovitae prunings, and whatever didn't compost in the compost pile over the winter like pea and squash vines, iris stems, etc., and these took up about 1/3 the space. I then put compost and dirt on top of that. I planted corn and sunflowers on one side, cukes in the middle and carrots on the other side. The first 3 have taken off and are over twice as tall as the same plants planted elsewhere in the garden in the same kind of dirt mix. They also look healthier, with bigger darker green leaves, and have thicker stems. I have to keep staking up the cukes and they are keeping me in pickles. Carrots are too immature yet to see much progress. I'm going to change all my raised beds over to this method next year.
Wow! Thank you for sharing your experience in Hugelkultur and the success you have had with this method! Like I said in the video I never knew there was an actual specific name for this method of gardening but I guess it deserves a special tag. All the best. :)
Another method is how the Aztecs used bodies of water and had lush gardens. You tube I think has a few videos on this. Try growing Tayberries they are a cross from black berries/raspberries. My marionberries are over taking my garden.
Ok thanks Rob! Cheers :)
Self Sufficient Me I checked in my hive the other day. I don't know if you have beehives but they tell me when the winter is going to be bad here.
Self Sufficient Me have you ever just planted vegs in the wild or woods around your house or on the wooded property? you get volunteers in your garden all the time, so planting a few different plants out back hahah no pun intended and see if they will volunteers to send up babies next year or if they don't. lets say like sweet potatoes! do you think animals around your place would like the greens as well as roots of that plant?
Love this guy
One additional tip. Throw some green, (grass, leaves, etc) in with the logs and sticks. It prevents a nitrogen drop as the wood starts to decompose.
Does it matter what kind of wood you put in? Looking at free wood on market place and not sure if it makes a difference if it's pine,gum or anything else
Your simple way explanatin is admirable and very knowledgable presentation.
We did this as well, my husband works at a wood mill, and he filled the truck bed up with wood chips from the “chipper” we filled the garden bed up about 2/3 the way full added top soil and topped that ....I’m on my second year, and the tomato’s that were left in the bed from last year sprouted, i now have some 400 little tomato plants! But I thinned them out, anyway we did to this ....
Enjoy your videos very much. Discovered your channel about a year ago, subscribed and now watch all of your productions.
From Oregon State, USA.
I've been gardening pretty much my whole life, beginning when my parents had me working in their veg patch when I was young. I'm still learning and your channel is fantastic! Even though I live in a completely different climate, your principles still apply. Thanks for all the valuable info you put out for the world! Can't wait to put this knowledge to work.
You are awesome! Thanks for your posts. from USA, Missouri
This video has really made my day. I work in disability sector, and we go to a 'farm' on mondays and its a pesticide free, clean, reuse type of farm, No animals, but we have build 4 raised beds which are up to our chests/abdomins and we have feel slowly trying to build them up with compost, mulch and dirt. But it is taking a long time. This will help us out so much and I can claim the browny points also haha. Great vid. Keep it up.
This is a huge tip because now I can make my beds taller thus not killing my back.
I live in Washington, DC and just love his videos. I'm familiar with most of his approaches, but he brings the ideas to life with clear videos and a good sense of humor.
Excellent video….just yesterday I was thinking about how much soil it was going to take to fill my 4’x8’ raised garden bed…now I know what to do with all the branches and leaves I have in my yard…thanks Marc
Getting addicted to ur videos, very scientifically explained!!
Thanks Mark for you're very informative video
We just did the same thing with our new raised bed, for the same reason you did, I didn’t want to waste soil! I thought at the time that the breaking down of the branches wouldn’t hurt & might help. Great to know it is a known & beneficial practice. Thanks for the info 😊👍
Started doing hugelkultur without knowing it was a technique. I simply observed the amazing soil created by rotting trees and figured I could make my own. It wasn't till studying a bit that I saw my idea was not, in fact, original. I also have a large pile of logs and dirt and organic material for long term compost I can use down the road. Had to do something with all the brush and rotten logs from the 60-70 trees I cleared for a orchard and more garden space, aside from useable firewood that is. It has been very dry this year with burn restrictions, so it turned out to be a good choice that way too.
I've had these in my polytunnel for a while. Wood and any fresh manure in the bottom then a good layer of old hay followed by a couple of inches of compost. The wood works really well as a reservoir and slow release nutrients. Fantastic crops. Can wholeheartedly recommend it.
I just took it for granted that you knew...that you were demonstrating huegelkutur. Well , you're channeling old German gardeners, ehh? Much joy, my friend. Julia
Thank you Mark for all these videos. We are planning to get into the self sufficient mode and you sure are one of the influencer for us
Got my birdies raised bed yesterday. Today I assemble! Over the past year, I have been scavenging my 2.68 acres to save up items you've been teaching us about to use Hügelkultur in my raised bed. Love your channel! Best wishes from North Florida. Namaste. 🙏🦋🌿
We filled 4 huge raised garden beds using the layer method (hugekulture) after watching your videos, but that the worst garden mistake we’d ever done. We have huge problem with rodents using the lower part of the bed (the broken logs, sticks layer) as rat motels, they dig under the bed to access that area and dig up to the top of the bed to have some sky view while eating their dinner. So warning to all beginner gardeners, research this method widely and use extra precautions to avoid building rat motels.
I will be burying logs and twigs and ferrets
@@josmond3504😂😂😂
I am off grid and not rich to buy an insane amount of soil. I am on a mountain and it's very rocky with much clay. I built raised beds in a green house and started using the old fall leaves as my base for a slow release of nutrients for my plants, with a layer of soil. The logs are a great idea. My land is extremely raw and plentiful of downed old trees. Pulling up leaves today to add logs before my first crop this year. Thank you for the extra ideas! God Bless you Sir.
Best thing I have learned so far Mark. I have all the branch cuttings from fruit tree pruning just sitting in one big pile on my land. Had no idea what to do with it and now I do. I have tons of leaf mulch and other debris I can now utilise. I'm excited! Thanks so very much for sharing this. Look out Tasmanian gardening here I come!
Yes it's a great way to reuse all that organic matter! Cheers :)
Hi Lynn, I'm in Melbourne and recently pruned our orange trees. I've been wondering what to do with the branches too, and will give this a try in a small raised bed that I am planning. I also have a lot of leaf mulch from a large Chinese elm tree that drops leaves in winter. The neighbours cut off some overhanging branches and threw them in our front yard (lol) so I have those piled up as well.Good luck with your garden!
I am growing tomatoes successfully in the raised bed that I put together. The raised bed seems to water itself!
This is my second year doing Hugelkulture raised beds after finding you on UA-cam. Nothing but success both growing seasons! Thank you from Ohio!
Awww I wish I had watched this video before I filled my amazing raised garden beds my husband just made me - I did full the bottoms with leaves and sticks but the logs would have saved me some money in soil - however I am having a couple more made so logs and sticks it is - thanks Mark enjoy your videos
Huhu! German person here. I've researched Hügelkultur and as you said, "filling" it with organic matter is really just a small portion of it. The essence of Hügelkultur is "a raised bed without a border". So it's just organic matter layered in a way that it doesn't collapse on its own + all the nice benefits. As your beds do have metal sheets on the sides, they are not Hügelkultur-beds, just raised beds that benefit from organic material filling. Big logs should keep your beds warm for roughly 3 years tho :)
Did you put some of that builders plastic at the very bottom of you bed or is it connected to the soil and draining freely?
Lovely person, lovely energy 🙌
cheers from Romania (Eastern Europe)... yes very far away :)
you just gave me a bunch of ideas about what do do with garden waste
I did this with a tote box (intentionally; I had heard to hugelkulture before. :-) ). I took an old plastic tote box and filled it up halfway with sticks from my yard. Then I covered the sticks with a thick layer of leaves to keep the dirt from falling to the bottom--and to make sure I introduced some fungus. Then I took a bit of leaf and rotten food material out of my worm compost box--along with some worms, and added that as a thin layer. Then I topped it with a layer of bagged garden soil deep enough to accommodate an onion bulb. I planted some onions, wet it, then covered it with cling film to keep the moisture in (so I don't have to water it daily). I checked last night and I saw a few tiny sprouts!
Once the tops are really up, I'll give it a top dressing of leaves (or woodchips if I have a load in by then) to keep the soil from drying out and when it's warm enough, the tote will go outside.
The benefits for me with using this method (besides all the ones you mentioned) is that I didn't have to put holes in the bottom of my box, so I don't have to try to put a drip pan under it while it's in the house; the bottom section has a lot of water holding capacity, which my onions can eventually take advantage of, like plants grown hydroponically. (One of the drawbacks to container gardening is that the soil dries out much faster than it does in a regular garden). Secondly, this made the box light enough I could still pick it up to move it! I don't think I could have done that if it had been full of dirt (or had gravel drainage). And lastly, I have come to find that I hate using gravel as pot drainage because when it comes time to get the dirt out of the pot to refresh it, gravel inevitably gets mixed in. And I don't want dirt with gravel in it. But when it comes time to remake my onion box, if some sticks get mixed into the dirt, that's okay; they'll break down eventually and only contribute to the soil.
Without knowing about this I've been doing the same! Only in a smaller scale. To me it works perfectly! I never knew about this but it even works on a balkony with small pots.
I truly enjoy your channel. Thank you sir.
I just started watching your videos within the last month more or less and I've learned so much about not just growing fruits and vegetables but more importantly ecosystems and maintaining them in your own right you are like a botanist and you explain everything so that the average person can understand it . Thanks .
Thanks for your candor about the raised bed gardens content!!!
Love these videos ...so informative and straight to the point ie no annoying music and stupid comments. Keep up the good work
Ancient Wisdom = Common Sense
Just an example that wisdom can be identified through logic, not just handing down via tradition. But that unfortunately we don’t hand down this knowledge as a matter of practice as much anymore. It’s easier when it’s handed down and hoping a renaissance is springing right now to get back to our roots so to speak with nature.
Love your work. As a gardener in a botanic gardens and digger of holes in the ground I think this is absolutely wonderful. I am setting up garden beds at home and will definitely be doing it this way. Hopefully at some point I will be able to pass this info on to the general public at our Eco Fiesta.
Thanks for the idea. Did a raised flower bed about a month ago and tried your idea. My green bin was practically empty by the time i was done. Used neighbours green bin for cut grass and dead plants. Got a full garden of healthy plants. Thanks again
I REALLY enjoy your videos. Yours is the most honest and genuine enthusiasm for the garden. Its brilliant! Thank You!
Ty for showing me how to make the most of my raised beds I am installing in my new courtyard. I love growing vege and raised beds are great for someone like me who can't stand to garden. Many thanks for your wonderful channel for blooming beginners.
I've done this since I was a teenager, didn't realize it actually had a name lol. Cool to know
I love your videos so much . They help so much
Nice video Mark....great to listen to someone without an ego. One could probably use the weekly waste; egg shells, green leftovers and such to add to the H.Kultur too over time....keeping a good balance between Nitrogen and Carbon.
I add all that too instead of flushing it down the garbage disposal. I think I am improving my soil.
Thank you so much for this video. I am trying it for the first time today and I am so excited. I took all the soil out of my galvanized stock tanks and will start over with adding tree stumps , branches, twigs and leaves and then the fertilizer and soil. Looking forward to an awesome garden this time. :)
Great, I can now safely and cheaply dispose of cut wood. Win win. Thx so much for your no nonsense presentations.
Mark! Thanks for hosting this channel. I am so encouraged by your efforts. Your guidance is wonderful!
I only just discovered this method last year being 2021 and so relevant many years later and a widely practiced technique
I have a Self Sufficient Me videos addiction. There I admitted it
Don't worry, the only side effects are better gardening skills and greater joy in life.
Me too...don't be ashamed.
I caught the same bug
That and multiple aquascaping and hydroponics videos.
be careful 😁
thank you for the video i learn a lot using stuff around the farm for gardening. i also do organic gardening in santa barbara, california for 32 years and i look forward using all the techniques and ideas i learned from your gardening video when i start my organic farm in the Philippines.
I’ve been working like a dog clearing debris from my plot. Branches, weeds, pine droppings...... now I discover this and feel remarkably stupid. Why didn’t I think of that!? Oh well, every day is a learning day. Thanks for the inspiring videos and information.
I buried lots of firewood much to my husbands dismay! Ha ha ha. Loved it. Always adding leaves manure mowed lawn and even compost material from the kitchen. We have moved into a new home now and will hope to implement your great idea for the raised bed with the metal! Will be heading to the mountains for bigger broken down branches twigs and leaves and will use the neighbors mowed grass and leaves and yard debris to add to the full finally topping of with soil peat and compost as I can. Loved your video! Thanks for sharing your great ideas! Wish you were my neighbor!
yeah, I imagine a lot of people do this by accident. The bottoms of raised beds are just a great place to get rid of big stuff that is too big for the compost heap.
Yeah so true! :)
Dude, its Russel Crowe's brother!!! I'm subscribing right now. Thanks for the information.
Love your honesty that's what I did great video ... Love to your family 🦋🦋🦋🌱🌱🌱🌱
Cool! I’ve done something similar in smaller containers. I didn’t know it was actually a thing. Glad to know more!
neem using soda bottles and milk jugs to gill mine up but this is eaiser on garbage day look for people who have piles of wood to haul off
This is great. We recently had a bad hurricane pass through our area with great loss of trees and great damage to buildings. My daughter and I have found ways to salvage the loss of trees by way of a portable saw mill. We have saved the wood from our old Cedar Trees, Black Walnut, Oak, HUGE Mexican Pecan Tree, and Pine. BUT .. we still have the limbs to deal with and do not want to burn them. I have been wanting to find the raised beds like those you use. (Bad knees and back) Now, after watching this video I realize that we can break these limbs down smaller, add compost, then add topsoil and have our raised beds. We will have the lumber from selected of our trees, and we also have a supply of damaged roofing 'tin'. 'We' call it tin, but I believe it is mostly glavalune (a type of aluminum?), or maybe steel. I thought we could use some of the tin to make the walls, too. I am not aware of any possible toxic chemical residue that might leech from the tin. Need research there which is just a phone call. But if you have any ideas, please share. Love your videos. Thanks.
This is great, now I have a use for all those limbs that seem to overwhelm me. Thanks 🇨🇱
I've done a similar thing. Several years ago I got some large rubber (similar to tire material) horse troughs cheap on sale. I checked out to make sure they were safe for gardening in first. Although I don't have access to the large pieces of wood, I can get wood chips for free. I place aged wood chips in the bottom then add chop and drop and kitchen scraps, whats left after filleting fish, etc., then a quality potting mixture. This has worked great. The wood chips help hold moisture at the bottom and slowly break down adding nutrients, along with the compost ingredients. My garden is thriving without any additional fertilizer except worm tea. I mulch with leaves and aged wood chips, whatever I have on hand. Too many people get caught up in rules, but if it works and is cheap and not polluting, and makes my gardening easier or more productive, I use it. Love your videos.
His accent is amazing specially the guddaay
What about tuubas (tubers) lol
I have to admit, I had a dream recently that he came to my ranch and taught me what and where to plant my gahden, I mean garden. I woke up, went in the kitchen and said "g'day" to my son. I was sad when I realized Mahrk, um, I mean Mark is never coming here to help me figure this stuff out. Sigh. I am grateful that he's given us hours of quality advice though, and he's awfully cute! His wife is a lucky woman!
Lazy I Ranch hahah yes the He is a cute guy and that gudday makes my day whenever i hear it from him
What a great idea! I have heaps of prunings and junk in a pile to burn. Not only is this a good base for a garden bin, but I'm not putting pollution into the air😀
I did the same thing you did, hugelkultur by accident! I did raised beds 32" tall because of my bad back and they work really well!
So did I!
me too
Did the same, got a lot of variety from a small patch
I love your manner of presenting information...slow enough for the brain to take it in, plenty of visuals to show what you are describing, using what's on hand rather than expensive garden supplements, etc. and pragmatic choices of subjects anyone could utilize. Love your accent as well! Just an added bonus!
Same here. Long before I had heard of the trendy gardening method I was putting filler material at the bottom of raised beds to save money. I'm now trying to decide for next year if I will build solid sided raised beds or save more money on materials and just build hugel mounds.
If you go without solid-sided beds then it might mean you have to reach further to get to the middle of the bed, which in turn may mean you can't raise the beds as high (because the higher they are, the deeper they'll end up at the base so the further back you will have to stand.) But if you think you can still reach the middle of the bed with ease then it certainly sounds more productive not to bother with making the sides solid.
That's good insight, thank you. I think I need to do more research into some ways of creating solid-sided beds on the cheap.
+Bradd Petersen Great advice. Thank you. I will see what I can find. :)
+Bradd Petersen I live in the Northeastern U.S.A. And we have been getting near constant rain all season. We had an extremely wet Spring, and now that we are into Summer, we've had some hot, drier days, but still, overall I live in quite a wet, cold climate. So it sounds like I have the opposite problem. :)
+Punky Rooster I live in NE Pa and as you say we have had a wet spring and summer. I have only had to water my plants 2X this summer and was actually concerned that the potted plants were getting too much water. Now today at the local store I heard 2 people talking and one said something about the "drought". After they had left I asked the cashier if I had heard correctly and they said yes, we have been in a drought all summer! I expressed my shock and remarked about all the rain all season long. They wanted to know if I lived near a lake or pond because "the pond had no water in it." I live only about half a mile away and get eaten alive by all the mosquitoes because of the wet atmosphere, so I say "maybe the pond has a leak, 'cause we have had more rain this year than my landscape knows what to do with. My shrubs are growing like weeds and I haven't had to water my garden but 2X all year". No reply from her. Hmmm..... maybe I'm in a tiny little sub-atmosphere and don't even know it. LOL Now it's getting cold fast. I'm trying to think of ways to enclose my little trial garden so as to extend the growing season before all my gorgeous robust tomato vines give up the ghost and my tomatoes haven't had time to grow enough since I got such a late start. Have a great day.
Loved the explanation and taking a tour of your yard. Beautiful and peaceful!
Your a very nice guy sir, you never keep secrets for ur videos, God be the Glory... God Bless u...
God bless you too mate! All the best :)
My 8 year old daughter and I are just getting into gardening and she also loves woodworking so we’ve made a raised bed out of some old wardrobe doors 😁. We will be going to the woods for some logs because it will save me a fortune 😂
Oh my goodness... I had a little round tank by a novelty 8 foot windmill, and I was too lazy to fill with all soil, so I filled it with a bunch of wood from our woodpile, then put dirt on top and planted flowers.... I did Hugelkultur myself, without even knowing it!! LOL Great video!
cool info...you are my favorite gardener...i love your garden!!!
i find that worms love nesting around rotting wood and other similar organic matter. the resulting worms and their waste is great for plants and soil health
I first learned of hugelkultur because I was looking at investing in desert property and in order to have my garden or perhaps a yard at least I wanted to plow the land put logs mulch and twigs in it and then layer over with soil and regrow the land I thought it would be cool.